Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter-after all there's one thing that'll never change and that's that Annabeth longs to learn new things so she'll still want to listen to the Sirens.

The easy atmosphere remained as they sailed ever onward, mist swirling around them.

It was Annabeth who spotted the land ahead, and she said as much, prompting Percy and Luke to move to the front of the boat with her so that they could look-the island was a dark spot in the mist.

"Do you think it's Polythemus' Island?" Luke asked, his eyes narrowed slightly, "Or something else."

"It's either Polythemus' Island or the island of the Sirens." Annabeth's voice was grim.

"Ah." Percy frowned, "Now call me crazy, knowing our luck, which would you guess it would be?"

"The Sirens." Luke agreed, "And I remember the myths-do we have any wax?"

"I think I saw some in the duffel bags-"

"We'll block our ears then-"

"I don't want to." Annabeth blurted out quickly. "I mean-" her face flushed, "I want to hear them."

"What?" Luke's face scrunched up in confusion, "Why?"

"They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire. They tell you things about yourself you didn't even realize. That's what's so enchanting. If you survive … you become wiser. I want to hear them. How often will I get that chance?"

Percy frowned, but it wasn't that surprising really, not coming from Annabeth who was so obsessed with knowledge. "But-it's dangerous Wise Girl. And you're already the smartest person I know." her voice was soft as she met her friends gaze, "I don't wanna lose you."

"Sephie's right." Luke nodded, "It's insanely dangerous Annabeth-what are you even planning?"

"You two can stuff your ears with the wax so you can't hear them, and I want you two to tie me to the foremast so that I can't dive overboard."

"That-"

"I know it's dangerous but I want to do it-and as long as I'm tied up it should be okay."

"I don't know." Luke's voice was reluctant.

"This is your quest." Annabeth stated quickly "It's your choice Luke I just... I'm never going to get this chance again."

Luke stared at Annabeth for a long moment before nodding, "Fine. We'll tie you up-if only because I'd rather you weren't tempted to take the wax out just to listen."

"Thank you." Annabeth beamed at Luke, "Seriously. Thank you so much-"

"I'll tie you up. Percy can you go down and see about getting that wax."

"Of course." Percy nodded, darting away and down into the Cabin beneath the deck, instantly heading to the duffel bags and unzipping one, rummaging through it before she found the wax, kneading them into four ear plugs before heading back up to the deck, where Luke was crouched in front of Annabeth, who he'd tied to the foremast.

"Can you get out?"

Annabeth frowned, struggling slightly before shaking her head, "No, no this should be good."

"Perfect." Luke pulled back and turned around to face Percy, "Do you have the wax?"

"I do." Percy handed it over, turning to Annabeth. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"I will be." Annabeth nodded, "Just don't untie me okay? No matter how much pain I seem to be in or I'll dive off the ship and drown myself."

"This is gonna suck." Percy pulled a face before glancing at Luke, who'd stuffed the wax into his ears-it looked kind of stupid, but hopefully it would be effective.

"Hey Luke, can you hear me?" she watched Luke's eyes narrow and watched the way his expression turned confused, then she gave him a thumbs up and Luke nodded, clearly getting the message, and Percy shoved the wax into her own ears, turning her head to look at Annabeth, who said something-but Percy could hear nothing. That was good, really good. She gave the other girl a thumbs up and Annabeth laughed.

It was strange, being unable to hear at all as Percy and Luke moved to the front of the boat to watch as they slowly got closer to the island, and through the mist the jagged rocks loomed out of it.

It was slightly nerve wracking, Percy was well aware that if they got too close to them then the boat would get torn apart.

She had to trust her powers and the magic controlling the boat-as long as she did that then they should be okay.

As they sailed Percy glanced backwards, watching Annabeth's expression transform from eager anticipation. Then it became puzzled, and then her eyes widened and she started to struggle against the ropes tying her to the foremast, a frantic expression on her face as her lips moved.

Percy could see from the way Annabeth was moving that the other girl was practically screaming, undoubtedly begging to be freed.

It was almost painful to watch-she'd never seen her friend look so openly desperate before, so frantic. A part of Percy wanted to rush to her side and untie her-but she knew she couldn't so she turned her head away, gripping the rails of Poseidon's Joy tightly, giving Luke a weak smile when her brother laid a hand on her arm and squeezed slightly.

There was no point in him speaking to comfort her-but Percy and Luke had long ago ceased needing words to communicate.

As they drew closer to the island there was still much that wasn't clear-but they could see the wreckages from ships that had been lured in, pieces of wood and fiberglass- it wasn't a pretty sight.

Percy wondered how anyone could be lured in like that-she understood Annabeth's curiosity-she could feel the sirens song through the deck of the ship-faint vibrations.

She shot Luke a concerned look, but his expression was one of grim determination as he clung to the rails of the ship.

There was no temptation in his expression-a face that Percy was eternally grateful for.

She turned her gaze back to Annabeth-and Gods but it was painful to watch, she was begging, tears pouring down her cheeks.

Percy felt her heart break at one point-she was no lip reader but she could make out what Annabeth was screaming-or a part of it, a single name.
Thalia. She was screaming for Thalia.

How was that fair? They were calling to Annabeth and they were using Thalia to do it.

Percy's head swung to look at the island, eyes searching for the Sirens-but she couldn't see them-and even if she could she knew that it wouldn't go well if she did try to get there to kill them. They were hurting her friend.

She wasn't sure what it was that made her glance back when she did, she'd never know, but something did-and Annabeth had her dagger gripped tightly in her hand-the ropes were sliced and on the wooden decking.

Her eyes widened in horror. Annabeth must have forgotten to tell Luke where she kept her dagger strapped and she'd managed to get it out to slice the ropes.

Annabeth met her gaze-and then the dagger was falling from the other girls grip and she was moving, rushing to the railings and leaping over them.

Percy was moving almost instantly. Luke hadn't even noticed, he was staring straight ahead unable to hear Percy's panicked screaming.

Percy dove in after her best friend, who was already moving, swimming towards the jagged rocks, the waves speeding up her movement.

If she was anyone else she knew she wouldn't have a chance at getting to Annabeth, but she had control over the water-and she used it, forcing the water to push her along, push her towards Annabeth-she screamed when her friend was dragged under by a wave, between two jagged rocks and she pushed harder, ignoring the tugging sensation in her stomach as she dove under the water, gaze focusing on the familiar figure of Annabeth, who was thrashing in the water, a stream of bubbles rising from her lips.

It took a lot of concentration to stop the waves and currents from driving her into rocks or wreckage as she reached the blonde, grabbing her arm and surging upwards, pulling Annabeth with her as they broke the water.

They were past the mines and rocks Percy quickly realized as Annabeth gasped for air and she managed to yank her arm free, surging forward in the water ahead of Percy, who cursed under her breath.

She could see the Sirens now.

They were a flock of vultures the size of people with black plumage, gray talons, and wrinkled pink necks, except their heads were human-and they kept changing, trying to lure their victims in Percy realized.

They were her mom, Luke and Nico, Tyson, Chiron, her father, the people she loved-and Grover too, there was Grover-and they were all smiling widely-as if they were so very glad to see her. But no matter what they looked like their faces were greasy and smeared with blood from their victims.

Percy knew, she knew that if she didn't reach Annabeth soon her friend would die, and she surged forward, hand gripping the girls ankle-and suddenly a shock ran through her.

And she was seeing them the way Annabeth had to be seeing them.

Four people sat on a picnic blanket in Central Park. A feast was spread out before them. Percy recognized Annabeth's dad from photos she'd shown her—an athletic-looking, sandy-haired guy in his forties. He was holding hands with a beautiful woman who looked a lot like Annabeth. She was dressed casually—in blue jeans and a denim shirt and hiking boots—but something about the woman radiated power. Percy knew instinctively that it was Athena, Annabeth was seeing her parents together-and there was Thalia there too, older than in Percy's dream, looking the age she would have been if she hadn't died, grinning brightly, laughing at something.

And Percy was there too-she realized, leaning back on the blanket with a grin, Riptide in it's pen form twirling between her fingers-and was that really how Annabeth saw her? She looked... Percy couldn't put her fingers on it but the fake Percy seemed to glow even more than the rest-and she was dressed in the same outfit she was wearing now, she looked kinda like a Greek Princess, though the scars on her arms were clearly visible, and that was definitely a weird thought.

The scene glowed, warm and inviting-and when they saw Annabeth the four figures lit up, her mom and dad holding their arms out invitingly, Thalia waving and gesturing for Annabeth to come and sit-and the Not Percy sat up, bouncing excitedly as she scrambled to her feet to wave.

Behind the trees of Central Park, a city skyline rose. Percy caught her breath, because it was Manhattan, but not Manhattan. It had been totally rebuilt from dazzling white marble, bigger and grander than ever—with golden windows and rooftop gardens. It was better than New York. Better than Mount Olympus.

She knew immediately that Annabeth had designed it all. She was the architect for a whole new world. She had reunited her parents. She had Thalia still alive-she'd done the things she'd always wished for-Percy wasn't entirely sure why she herself was there but it was kind of nice knowing that she was there in Annabeth's vision of things she wanted most.

Percy blinked hard-and the Sirens were back to their normal forms, and she dragged Annabeth backwards, away from them even as the blonde whirled around, struggling fiercely trying to push herself out of Percy's grip.

She kicked and scratched and pummeled Percy. It made it hard to drag her away, even for her.

Then Percy dragged her under-and Percy noticed with a wave of shock that her struggles ceased when they were under.

Of course, it had to weaken the power of the Sirens if Annabeth couldn't hear it! She let out a breath, using her powers to form a bubble of air around both of their upper halves, their legs still in water though the rest of their bodies were dry.

Annabeth's eyes were wide with shock as she stared at Percy, and then she was shuddering and sobbing-even without being able to hear Percy could tell that her sobs were loud heart breaking noises as she pressed her face into Percy's shoulder and Percy wrapped her arms around her friend, closing her eyes tightly as Annabeth clung to her as she sobbed.

They stayed there for several minutes as some fish came to watch-looking at her curiously. She gave them a dirty look, "There's nothing to see so beat it." and they swam away as Percy used her powers to push them back away from the Sirens beach, not loosening her grip on Annabeth for even a moment as they were pushed through the water by her own personal current.

It didn't take too long to get through the rocks and wreckage, and soon Percy could see the hull of the Poseidon's Joy and she pushed them towards it even as it steadily moved away from the Sirens island.
She didn't want to risk surfacing yet-Annabeth could still easily be caught under their spell again, and the other girl was still clinging to her, still shaking like a leaf.

Percy looked up-and her gaze met Luke's peering down into the water a panicked look on his face.

Of course. He'd noticed that they'd disappeared. She should have known that he'd notice before they got back. At least he hadn't actually dove into the water.

She shifted her grip on Annabeth so that she had a free hand and pushed them up slightly, making the bubble of air around them smaller so that she could poke a hand out of the water to give Luke a thumbs up-she could see that his face was concerned even with the distortion of the water.

She was pretty sure his expression became relieved and he nodded before he pulled back out of view.

When Percy judged that they'd moved far enough away-which took perhaps another half an hour, she surfaced with Annabeth, who looked around as they rose out of the water on a pillar of water, which she made carefully drop them on the deck before it receded, and Annabeth's legs gave out as Percy sunk to her knees, and Luke was wrapping a blanket around both of them as Percy pulled the wax out of her ears-the singing was gone now, and she nodded to Luke who did the same as Percy turned her gaze to Annabeth, who shook her head weakly and pressed her forehead into Percy's shoulder. "Please. Just... give me a minute."

"I've got you." Percy whispered the words, "I have you."